Stephen Lash

Stephen Lash is founder of Christie's North America and the Chairman Emeritus of Christie's New York. Considered one of the world's leading art experts, he has been intimately involved with virtually every major historic and record-setting art auction at Christie's since its North American debut in 1977.

Biography

Growing up in Brookline, Massachusetts, the son of art aficionados who frequented museums, galleries and auctions, young Lash was exposed to the world of art and culture at an early age. He attended Avon Old Farms boarding school for boys, received a Bachelor's Degree from Yale University, and later an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Prior to joining Christie's in 1976, Lash was vice president at the London-based S. G. Warburg & Co. - eventually acquired by UBS in 1998 - and was mayoral appointee to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. He also served as a Trustee of the Preservation League of New York State and the Park Avenue Armory.

Christie's North America

Christie's, founded in London in 1766 - with $8.4 billion sold in art and luxury goods in 2022, an all-time high for any auction house - hired Lash in 1976 to lead a team to launch the firm's New York salesroom on Park Avenue. A year later, in 1977, the first ever Christie's office in North America opened for business. Over the years Lash's responsibilities grew, eventually becoming chairman and currently Chairman Emeritus of Christie's Americas.

Since first joining Christie's, Lash has been involved in numerous historic art acquisitions, including the sale of Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of Dr. Gachet for $82.5 million in 1990, the sale of four Gustav Klimt paintings for $192.2 million in 2006, and the sale of Elizabeth Taylor's collection for $156.7 million in 2012.

Historic sale of Klimts

Under Lash's direction in 2006, the collection of Maria Altmann, which included four paintings by Gustav Klimt looted by the Nazi's during World War II and returned to Altmann after a decade-long legal battle, sold at Christie's in a record 7 minutes, garnering $192.2 million. The paintings were Adele Bloch-Bauer II ($87.9 million), Apple Tree I ($33 million), Birch Trees ($40.3 million), and Houses at Attersee ($31 million), all selling to undisclosed collectors. Lash later revealed to the art world that Oprah Winfrey had bought Adele Bloch-Bauer II. A fifth and final Klimt, Adele Bloch-Bauer I, sold in a private sale for $135 million to billionaire Ronald Lauder in 2006, at that time the highest price ever paid for a work of art.

Eleven years later in 2017, Salvator Mundi was sold at Christie's in New York for $450.3 million, the current highest price ever paid for a painting.

Current boards

Lash serves on the boards of the Museum of the City of New York and The New York Landmarks Conservancy, He is co-chairman of the American Friends of the Israel Museum, and Acting President and Trustee of the New York University Institute of Fine Arts.